Four unique skills to identify authentic tie guan yin autumn tea
One: dry leaves are tight and give silvery sound when tossed in cup
Take out few dry leaves and toss them into a tureen and listen: tea with silvery sound is autumn tea while tea with toneless sound is heat tea. The authentic autumn tieguanyin tea leaves are tight, thick, firm and heavy and make a loud sound when are tossed into cup while heat tea leaves are loose and light so their tossing sound is relative toneless.
Two: fresh green dry leaves with luster are autumn tea
Seeing the color and luster of dry leaves are the intuitionistic discrimination method as well. The authentic Anxi tie guan yin tea leaves are fresh green, so it isn’t difficult to identify it. Take out few dry leaves and put them under light, if they’re green and lucidus, they’re authentic autumn tea; if they’re dark in color and lack luster, they’re generally heat tea. But then, if the tea leaves are shiny black like the spring tea, they’re perfect authentic autumn tea.
Three: with fresh-fruit fragrance
The biggest feature in aroma of brewed Anxi tie guan yin autumn tea is the fresh-fruit or flower fragrance. Identify by this, if the tea doesn’t smell like that, it’s not autumn tea. The biggest difference between Anxi tie guan yin autumn tea and other season tea is the aroma, which is also the easiest way for everyman to master. For heat tea, it smells fishy.
Four: tea dregs are concave and soft
Take out two or three leaves that has been brewed for times and unfold to see, if the leaves are concave and soft, they’re authentic tie guan yin autumn tea; if they’re stiff and rough, they’re not.
The above four methods are intuitionistic and easy, you may try one or all of them. If you’ve tried all the four methods and the tea is incongruent at all, it isn’t the authentic tie guan yin autumn tea.